Students at a Staffordshire school have received a helping hand from Prince Charles in their bid to create their very own wild flower meadow.
The pupils from Birches Head Academy are working with the Coronation Meadows scheme to help rejuvenate their school grounds.
Around 97 per cent of wildflower meadows have been lost in the last 75 years across the country and Coronation Meadows was founded by Prince Charles to create at least one new wild flower meadow in every county to mark the 60th anniversary of the Coronation.
Birches Head was the first school to enquire about the project, and as a result was given permission to collect seeds from the Rod Wood Coronation Meadow to help kick start their own.
The school’s Grow It gardening group has led the work with the seeds being planted in November. Now the results are there for all to see.
The Grow it group, comprised of students, their families and Birches Head staff, travelled to nearby Rod Wood to observe how a meadow is maintained using traditional farming methods, and to learn more about flowers and plants.
Jo-Anne Lawton, who helps to run the Grow It group at the school, said: “Our weekly gardening group continues to flourish with students, staff, community organisations, parents and grandparents all joining in. We’re very pleased to see some of our students who have rarely been exposed to the countryside environment, taking such care and interest in cultivating their small plots of land around the school.”
Founded in 2012, the Grow It group grows its own produce on an assigned plot of school land. Vegetables produced by the group have been used in the school cafeteria.
For more information on the Coronation Meadows project, visit http://coronationmeadows.org.uk/